Despite all the needless waste being produced by America, the sad truth is that emerging Asia is by far the main driver of the world’s growing carbon dioxide emissions right now. So, how do we stop this endless flow of emissions?
One way would be to establish the right incentives for countries such as China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Bangladesh—although this seems extremely hard to do within the framework of existing multilateral aid institutions, which have limited expertise on climate issues and are pulled in different directions by their various constituencies. Instead, we need a new, focused agency that works similarly to the World Bank.
According to Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, what we need is World Carbon Bank that provides a vehicle for advanced economies to coordinate aid and technical transfer, and that is not simultaneously trying to solve every other development problem. Rogoff argues that we cannot force developing economies to simply use renewable energy when coal is widely available, but with a World Carbon Bank, we could help provide nations the means to make that transition on behalf of the greater good of the planet. For a deeper look into Rogoff’s argument, read his case for why the world needs a World Carbon Bank.
